Friday, August 30, 2013

Patriotism is the first refuge of idiots

There
is a fairly wide swath of people who refuse to believe government
(local, state, and federal) when it comes to issues where the government
either has no credible incentive to lie, or it would take a magnificent
conspiracy across many levels in order to fudge the truth. Issues like
localized public safety, public schools, or even basic economic data
have become "controversial" to many people purported
to be exercising a healthy distrust of power. Yes, governments need to be kept in check regarding these issues, but most often agencies that handle this sort of
stuff are made up of public servants who do great work.

Meanwhile, when
it comes to questioning US military power, where the government has
lied repeatedly and been proven to do so (with the results being
millions of deaths), many of these same people are the first ones to
blindly cheer on every single American imperial military adventure (they
usually call it "the troops") and cast self-righteous judgements on
those who don't. I realize there's some interesting social undertones
happening with this sort of thinking, which at first glance seems at
least a bit contradictory. I'm sure there is, but I'm just going to call
them idiots and be done with it.